Presidential debate c'ttee commissioned * By the Institute of Economic Affairs

Page 24: July 10, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has constituted an 11-member committee to organise this year’s presidential debates towards the December 7, 2008 elections.
Chaired by His Eminence, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson, the Catholic Archbishop of Cape Coast, the committee will plan two presidential debates in October and November this year, to be held in Tamale for the Northern Zone and Accra for the Southern zone, respectively.
Addressing newsmen after the committee’s inaugural meeting, Cardinal Turkson said the flag bearers with party representation in Parliament were the eligible candidates for the two presidential debates.
He, however, said there were plans for a separate debate to be organised for the other presidential candidates whose parties did not have representation in Parliament.
That, he said, would also be on condition that those candidates file with the Electoral Commission (EC) to contest the December presidential election.
Cardinal Turkson said only flag bearers would be allowed to participate in the debates, explaining that nobody would be permitted to represent any flag bearer in the debates.
He explained that through the debates, the IEA intended to provide forums for the candidates to state what they stood for and intended to pursue if elected to lead the country.
In that way, he said, the electorate would be provided with a forum to assess the presidential candidates to enable them to make informed choices.
Cardinal Turkson said the debates would be co-ordinated by two moderators, who would ask the same questions for each of the candidates to answer.
He said the IEA had already started the process of gathering questions from a cross-section of the society and indicated that the Caucus of Party Chairmen would also be expected to make inputs into the process.
He said there would be balloting to determine how the flag bearers would sit and the order in which they would answer the questions to avoid the accusation of bias.
Prior to the questioning, he said, each candidate would be given three minutes to introduce himself and also state what he stood for.
Cardinal Turkson said at the end of the two-and-half hour debate, each of the candidates would be given five minutes to make his closing remarks.
Attendance, he stated, would strictly be by invitation, with each candidate being given 15 invites, while selected members of the public, including members of the Diplomatic Corps, would be present.
Responding to a question as to why the committee would not accept a representation on behalf of any of the aspirants, Cardinal Turkson said it was not fair to evaluate someone based on what another person had said or done.
He said it was to avoid such an incident that the committee was liaising with the aspirants and their parties to select a suitable date for all of them.
Other members of the committee are Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II, the President of the National House of Chiefs; Sheik O.N. Sharabutu, the National Chief Imam; Mr Ransford Tetteh, the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA); Mrs Doris Acheampong, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the National Commission on Civic Education; Dr Yaw Baah, the Director of Research at the Trades Union Congress; Dr Rose Mensa-Kutin, Convenor, Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT); Mr William Ampem-Darko, the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation; Maulvi Wahab Adam, the Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission; Mrs Jean Mensa, the Administrator of the IEA, and Mr Kofi Owusu, the Director of Programmes at Joy FM.